Being linked to Wellington’s aristocratic Wellesley family saved a Welsh single mother from jail. Her lover Richard Wellesley paid back the £100,000 Anna Carton (below) had fraudulently claimed in benefits whilst living with him in South Wales.

Bizarrely Mr Wellesley was able to afford the sum because he still receives £30,000 a year from a trust fund set up well over 150 years ago for descendants of the first Duke of Wellington, given his title and huge fortune after his victory at the Battle of Waterloo.

The so-called Iron Duke picked on Wellington because it was closest to his family name of Wellesley. He visited the town only once in his long lifetime.